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Supreme Court Approves a Constrained Version of Trump’s Travel Ban

The Trump administration scored a major victory when the United States Supreme Court announced it would allow a limited version of Trump’s controversial travel ban on Monday. This comes after a series of court challenges where several inferior courts halted the implementation of the travel ban based on the belief that it discriminates against Muslims.

The original travel ban barred citizens and refugees native to 7 Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq and Syria, from traveling to the US. Syria refugees were specifically targeted in the first version of the ban and it also contained a clause that put a greater priority on Christian refugees.

After the first travel ban was struck down by a Federal court in Washington state, the Trump administration drafted a new version of the ban. Basically, the second draft of the travel ban was the same thing as the first draft besides for a few key details: the specific ban of Syrian refugees was taken out, Iraq was taken off the banned list, and the Christian clause was phased out as well.

Unsurprisingly, the second draft would face the same fate as the first draft. Federal courts in Maryland and Hawaii issued injunctions on the ban which held up the implementation of the travel ban. But, the Supreme Court, having the final say on the constitutionality of the matter, changed the course of the travel ban.

As I stated above, the Supreme Court, in a 9-0 decision, allowed the ban in a constrained form before they hear the entire case later this year.

So, what people are not going to be allowed into the US?

With Iraq taken off of the banned list, that leaves 6 countries that will be affected by this: Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The Supreme Court established a requirement for people coming from those countries and their ability to legally come into the US; they said to get into the US from one of those countries, a person must show a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity” in the US.

A “bona fide relationship” is obviously a very broad term that will assuredly be challenged in court, but the term essentially means that an individual must have a close, established, and documented relationship with someone or something in the US.

People with less-evident relationships to the US, such as people on tourist visas along with refugees, are expected to be affected most by the soon-to-be implemented travel ban. People on family, student, and work visas can demonstrate a “bonafide relationship” easier so they are not expected to face much trouble.

Trump called the Supreme Court decision a “clear victory for our national security”. The travel ban is expected to go into effect sometime on Thursday.